Melinda Holden was living on Guam when her parents presented her with a 1960’s kid's camera. After several years of taking family snapsho
ts, she discovered that the 127-format film the camera used was being discontinued. Fortunately, a few years later, while stationed in Japan, her father outfitted everyone in the family with an Olympus Pen-EE, which served her well through college, along with a trusty Olympus OM-1 SLR. In the Visual Arts Department at UCSD she studied painting and photography graduating cum laude with a B.F.A.

Working at a large commercial photo lab, and later a local framing shop/ photo gallery,

provided her with the additional experience to launch her own professional photography business in 1983. In a downtown loft studio she produced images for regional and national advertising and editorial markets through 2003. At AGStockUSA she has been a contributing photographer since 2000. Since 2001 she has been a member of APA/SD (American Photographic Artists). From 1993 to 1995, Melinda was the Co-President of the San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers.

Since the Fall of 2002 she has been teaching in the Photography Program at San Diego City College. Her classes of instruction have included Beginning and Intermediate B/W, Color Transparency, Business Operations, Large Format Photography and History of Photography. She practices fine art photography and has been exhibiting her work in regional, group and solo shows since 1982. At the San Diego City College Photography’s new gallery space, she curated the inaugural faculty exhibition. Favorite time off activities include gardening, international travel, surfing and of course photography.